Adjustable engaging device for machine elements



D. J. MCCARTHY.

' ADJUSTABLE ENGAGING DEVICE FOR MACHINE ELEMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED- AUG. 24, 1918.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

PL, 7 WWI/Ill A D. J. McCARTHY.

ADJUSTABLE ENGAGING DEVICE FOR MACHINE ELEMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-24w 1918. I 1,333,500. Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AND SUPPLY ILLINOIS.

VDANI'EL J. McCART I-IY, or'nnem, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CHICAGO RAILWAY SIGNAL.

coMrAN or GARPENTERSVILLE, ILLINOIS, a CORPORATION or ADJUSTABLE ENGAGING Dnvronj'ro'n MACHINE ELEMENTS.

' Application filed'August 24, 191 s. Se ria1Nq.251,250.

, To all whom it may concern c 3 Be it known that I, DANIEL J. MCCARTHY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elgin, in the county of Kane and Sta-te'of Illinois, have invented certain new and use-.-

ful Improvements in Adjustable Engaging Devices for Machine Elements, of which the following is a specification. My inventlon relates to a device for provldlng an adjustable engagement between two machine elements capable of angular or rotational movement one with respect tothe other, such, for example, as a shaft and cam mounted thereon; and a primary object of the invention is to provide a devicefor use in this or analogous situations which will bejsimp'le and inexpensive to manufacture and which will afford" convenientmeans for effecting the engagement of one element withthe other which will befpositive and reliable and capable of .minute adjustment,

A more specifico'bject of the iinveiitionis to provideelectric switches of. certain types.

with means whereby the timing of the move- 'ments of the current controlling contacts, or, switch elements, may be readily, accurately and convenientlyadjusted. i7 The inventlon' conslsts in the new and 1mproved constructions, arrangements and devices to 'be hereinafter described and claimed for carrying out the above-stated objects and such other incidental objects as will appear, from the. following description of certain vention. Theseembodimentjs of the invention are illustrated in the 1 accompanying drawings,

. wherein Figure LisaJsect-ionaI iew of anelec- I tIlCZSWltCh which, 1111133 general-construe tion, is of familiar type but contains the im of Fig. 3.

provement which is the subject matter of my invention. .1

to Fig. 2 is a. sectional plan'o i linei 2-,-2 of Fig: 1'.

t T Fig. 3 is a detail sectional plan alarger scale ltaken on line 33.'o f Fig. 1. a Fig. 4; isva sectional v ewon' lined- 4 -F'gs1. 5 andt are on the same. sectionfline as Fig, 4: togillustrate 'difierent positions. of the parts of the; ad

preferredembodiments of the in ,Fig. 7 is a View, inelevation, with the shaft in-section, of a modified form of elec-- tric:s witch emlbodyingthe principle of my invention applied, in a somewhat different way. I 1

L1ke characters of reference designate like parts in the several figures of the drawings;

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive,

19 is a casing for theswitch mechanism provided with-a cover 11. Mounted on a web 12 ofthe casing is a block of insulating material 'lg to which is secured the spring contacts 14-, 15 and 16'having binding posts 17,18,19, respectively, contact 16 being sup-V ported from the block 13 1); a bracket 20 so The switch mechanism as thus far de-- scribed .18 of known COIlStILlCtlOIL, My in? yention relates to an arrangement for adusting the cam 24 with. respect to shaft 25 so that the movement of the switch will be "properly timed. This arrangement is preferably as follows Between shaft 25 and cam 24lis a disk 28 having a hub 29 rigidly se-l cured to the shaft by means of a'key 3O, or other suitable means. The disk 28 is formed on its periphery with a pair of alined recesses 31 which taper in depth toward each other and meet at their shallow ends. The

"Specification of Letters latent Patentd lv lalzg, 1920. I

cam 24L fits the disk 28 somewhat closely but freely enoughto allow the rotation of the cam on the disk. In each of the recesses 81 is -arranged a revoluble clutch member, preferably a" roller 32, which is normally pressed toward the shallow endofthe recessby-a coiled spring seated in abracket 34 formed in the disk. on one face of'disk 28 isai-ranged a circular plate 35 formed with arcuate slots 36 through which extend screws 37 threaded into the disk 28, thefheads 38 i of whichbear against the plate 35 and clam the same to the disk 28. When the screws 3 are loosened the plate maybe rotated to'the extent of the length of slots gfi. For. ro-

If the cam to'berotated to the right (Figj tating the plate it is provided with a lug 39.

' The plate preferably overlapseaui 2 L on The disk 28 is formed with afiange which overlaps the cam' on the one side.

other side (Fig. Secured to the plate 35 is a stud 4:1 which extends into slots 31, 31

at their intersection in position to engageoneor otherof the clutch rollers 32 when the plate rotated. By this arrangement the cam may be adjusted conveniently with accuracy and minuteness in either direction.

5) 'the plate is turnedto the left which brmgs stud 41 against theleft hand" roller of the pair forcing this'roller into the deep end of its recess. The cam may then be moved I in the direction indicated by, the arrow in ,this figure becauseits movement inthis direction causes the other roller, the right. hand one of the pair, to move back toward the deep end of its recess. If the adjustmentis'to be made in the opposite direction the parts are-reversely moved, as shown in Fig."

6. hen the proper adjustment has been made the plate 35 is turned back to its initial position withscrews at the middle of slots 36' and the screws are tightenedl As soon as the clutch roller engaged by. the stud is released bythe movement of the stud to its intermediate position, the spring back. of the roller forces it toward the shallow end of its recess so that no movement or rotation in either direction of the cam with respect to disk 28 and shaft 25 is possible. That is to say, in accordance with the arrangement described one of the clutch members will oppose relative movement in one direction between the parts engaged while the other will oppose such movement in the opposite direction. By turning the plate in one di-v re ction one of the clutch members isput out of operation while by rotating the plate re.- 'versely the other clutch memberis madeinoperative. Thus the cam may be turnedin' either direction so as to obtain conveniently an accurate ad ustment thereof w th respect to the shaft 25 by which the switch mechanism is actuated. I have referred to only onepair of clutch rollers 32." Preferably,

' however, there are several pairs of these rollers arranged in a corresponding manner between the disk 28 and cam'Q htheplate 35 being provided, of course, witha corresponding number of studs 41. The object of multiplying the clutch rollers is to insure a positive engagement of thecam and disk.

. .In Fig? I have shown a. modified switch or clrcult making and breaking mechanism employing-the same principle of construe- 't1on. The circuit malrlng and breaking elements comprise a pair of sprmg contacts {l2 and, arranged betwee11.the same, a revolub'le annular contact member 43, which is cut away as indicated ate l. The r'evoluble contact, which correspondsgenerally to the 7 cam 2% of the other form of the invention,

is arranged at the periphery of a dished having a square opening l6 at the center for mounting on thesquared portions? of the actuating shaft of the mechanism, the CllSk and shaftpbeing insulated by the insulating material 48. The disk is formed with re eesses 49 in which are arranged spring pressed rollers 50 which may be forced to inoperative positionby means of the stud 51 on the annular plate 52 which is engaged with disk 45 by means of, screws 37 which extendinto the disk 45 through arcuate slots summed in plate '52; the construction being substantially the same in the respects last noted as that previously described.

I claim: 1

l. The combination of twomachine ele ments, one of which is capable of rotation on the other and whichare formed to pro vide-re'c'esses between the elements wlnch taperin depth toward each other, a revo-- .luble clutch member lneach of said recesses on the other and which are formed to provide recesses between-the elements which taperin depth toward eachother, a revolublecl utch member 111 each of said recesses,

springs which press saidjmembers toward the shallow ends of their recesses, and means for forcing one of said membersinto the ,deepend of its recess, to permit the adjustment rotationally of one'ofsaid elements on the other. I 3.;The1 combination of two machine elements, oneof'which-is capable of rotation on the'otherfand which are formed to. provide recesses between the elements "which taper in depth toward each other, a rcvo luble clutch mei'nber in each ofsa'id recessses, sprlngs wh ch press said members toward the shallow ends of their recesses, and means adapted'to engage either "of sa'idgclutch members and force-the same into the deep ,end of its recess,- whereby one element may.

be adjusted rotationally in either direction onthe other. r

4. The combination of two machine elements, one, of which is capable'of' rotation on the other and which are formed'to provide recesses between the elements which taper in depth and communicate with each other at their shallow ends, 'revoluble clutch members in said recesses, springs which press said members toward theshallowcnds of their recesses, and a device rotatably engag-ed. with" one of said elementshaving projection which extends' into' said recesses I at their intersection, the rotation of press said members toward the shallow ends 7 of their recesses, a device rotatably' engaged with one of said elements having a pro ec-' tion which extends into said recesses at their intersection, by the rotation of which device in one direction or the other the projection thereon forces one of said clutch members into the deep end of its recess, and means for fixing said device to theelement with which it is engaged. v 1 Y 6. The combination of a disk having in its periphery a pair of alined recesses taper= ing in depth and communicating with each other at their shallow ends, an annular element surrounding said disk, a pair of roll-,

ers arranged in said recesses, respectively, springs which press said rollers toward the shallow ends of the recesses, and a plate rotatably arranged with respect to said disk having a stud which projects {into said recesses at their intersection adapted, when the plate is rotated, to engage one or other of said rollers and force the same into the deep end of itsrecess.

"7. The combinat on of a disk havingin its periphery a-pa1rofal1ned recesses tapering in depth and communicating with each other at their shallow ends, an annularelement surrounding said disk, a pair of rollers arranged in said recesses, respectively, springs which press said rollers towardthe shallow ends of the recesses, a plate rotatably arranged with respect to said disk having a stud which projects into said recesses at their intersection adapted, when the plate is rotated, to engage one or other of said rollers and; force the same into the deep end of its recess, said plate being formed with arcuate slots, and clamping devices eXtendin -into said slots "for clamping the plate to said disk.

June 26, 1918.

Witnesses: v r

A.'D. Town, RUTH MITCHELL.

DANIEL J. MCCARTHY. s 

